Election Backlash

I am proud to be an American. There have been many times in my life when I would have struggled to say that, but today is not one of them. That being said, I will not minimize the fact that returning home this week has been unbelievably hard. I won't go on a rant against anything that those who know me best have likely already heard a dozen times. Being in America is very hard for me on various levels! But I will say this: I'm in shock over what people are saying and doing at the moment. Yes, this election was rough, and God alone knows what the future of our nation will be! But have you seen Aleppo lately? Have you beheld the poverty and wars that currently fill the globe? Can you comprehend what life would be like if you had been born in the north of Korea?

Today I just can't keep from crying as I hear stories of people burning our flag and doing worse things. I am not so patriotic, people, but I can't help but weep as I encounter these stories of people who cluelessly take their freedom for granted. In nearly every other country one would be in prison for the things that are being said and done PUBLICLY!

I have spent the majority of this year with people who no longer have a country to call home. That are sitting in forgotten places, being told from the actions (even words) of others that it was better that they'd never come or even been alive- can you imagine this? Can you imagine having no freedom WHATSOEVER?! We have a home, we have our families and friends, we have jobs, we have relative safety... and we are burning our flag! Even in the midst of war, pain, and great loss, the people I met weren't burning their flag, but rather drawing it and holding it close as a treasure. I know there very well may be some very dark days that lay ahead, days when we no longer have those things, but the day is not today. And we usher those things in by acting like we are right now.

I guess I'm just in shock right now- it feels too much to come from a refugee camp to this place of wealth and freedom and witness what I am. I know my blog is a small thing, but to whoever may read this, I would like to challenge you with the words of the great King David when he was up against the horrors of Saul trying to kill him after David had already been anointed by the Lord:

"Abishai said to David, 'Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Now let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of the spear; I won’t strike him twice.' But David said to Abishai, 'Don’t destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless?  As surely as the Lord lives,' he said, 'the Lord himself will strike him, or his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. But the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed.'" 

1 Samuel 26

 Let us pray, let us wait, and let us never give up hope!